Company

Founded in 1946 in Pinerolo (TO) by Giacomo Gai and his wife Elsa, GAI S.p.A. moved its entire operations to Ceresole d’Alba (CN) in 1985, where it significantly expanded. The third generation of the Gai family is now fully involved in management, with Giacomo overseeing administration and engineers Guglielmo and Giovanni leading industrial and commercial operations.
The company produces machinery and complete bottling lines for the wine, oil, beer, water, and spirits industries, including rinsers, fillers for still and sparkling liquids, cork cappers, capsule applicators, bottle washers, and labelers.

Over 90% of components are produced in-house, and GAI’s strong roots in tradition are matched by its global presence across five continents through an extensive distribution network. In 2015, the company recorded a turnover of €36.5 million, with an ambitious target of €40 million for 2016. The new facility, inaugurated in May 2016 during the company’s 70th-anniversary celebrations, spans 40,000 m² of covered area, 6,000 m² of offices, and 100,000 m² of green space, employing 200 people.

Context

In 2009, GAI decided to enhance its ERP system with the advanced COMPASS software to support production planning, scheduling, and procurement processes. According to Guglielmo Gai, Industrial Director, the project was driven by the need to:

• Gain clear visibility of machine and department workloads to identify bottlenecks and make informed outsourcing or investment decisions.

• Provide up-to-date (bi-weekly) production schedules to shop floor departments, accommodating post-launch changes such as customer modifications or order rescheduling.
• Monitor real-time production progress on the shop floor.

Solution

Operating with a Make-To-Order (MTO) approach, GAI also uses forecast-based production launches. The Compass software, integrated with the AS4500 ERP platform:

• Supports MRP calculations for component requirements derived from finished machine production orders.
• Ensures that component production orders inherit the priority of the finished machine delivery, enabling accurate finite capacity scheduling across machines.
• Develops production schedules considering machine and labor capacity constraints and material availability.
• Generates optimized material picking missions for assembly, welding, turning, and other operations, minimizing inventory consumption and ensuring department managers efficiently feed their machines.

Results Achieved

Over the years, COMPASS has enabled GAI to become highly dynamic and responsive, improving customer service levels and internal logistics through:

• Increased responsiveness to market demands.
• Optimized material consumption from inventory.
• Enhanced service levels with improved on-time delivery performance.